The recent revelations are hardly unexpected. Earlier report show a pattern of similar behavior by unelected officials at the FBI and other agencies. For example, Trump was ridiculed when he claimed that his communications were being monitored, but reports later confirmed this to be correct:"I think the president is absolutely right. His phone calls, everything he did electronically, was being monitored," Bill Binney, a 36-year veteran of the National Security Agency who resigned in protest from the organization in 2001, told Fox Business on Monday. Everyone’s conversations are being monitored and stored, Binney said.https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-03-07/nsa-whistleblower-bill-binney-says-trump-is-absolutely-right-about-wiretap-claims

Evidence is that information collected by intelligence agencies was relayed to the Obama administration for political purposes:We have found evidence that current and former government officials had easy access to U.S. person information and that it is possible that they used this information to achieve partisan political purposes, including the selective, anonymous leaking of such information,” Nunes wrote in the letter to Coatshttps://thefederalistpapers.org/us/obama-made-hundreds-unmasking-requests

For reference here is one of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon:He misused the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and other executive personnel, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights of citizens, by directing or authorizing such agencies or personnel to conduct or continue electronic surveillance or other investigations for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office . . .http://watergate.info/impeachment/articles-of-impeachment

Clear evidence is that surveillance information has been used for political purposes that go far resource that go far beyond what was even technically feasible in during the Nixon administration.

Is that a good thing?

Should government surveillance agencies (both domestic and foreign) play an active role in US politics?

If so should there be a formal process that presidential candidate receive a blessing of the state security apparatus before they are allowed on the ballot?

Or should US politics be free from interference from intelligence agencies, and intelligence agencies should respect the authority of the president other elected officials?

The rule is that the warrants extend two steps removed from the target, so everyone in communication with Page or who communicated with someone in communication with Page was also covered. That basically means the entire Trump campaign and anyone who in any way associated with the campaign was subject to government surveillance.

This is also demonstrably untrue and factually inaccurate. No one in the Campaign was “subject to government surveillance.” The so-called “step rule” allows officials to access the phone numbers being called by the subject of the investigation. They are not allowed to then listen in on those people’s conversations with others outside of the actual target. In this case Page, who was not communicating with the Trump Campaign anyway. Please kindly stop spreading inaccurate information.

The dossier came from a foreign intelligence officer, Christopher Steele. The information and/or misinformation contained in the dossier, by its own admission, came from Russia, and the Democrats paid for it. If that is not evidence of foreign collusion, what is?

More factually inaccurate posting here. Perhaps the problem is your lack of knowledge and understanding of these events including what conspiracy against the US actually means. Perhaps try to expand your sources of information in the future so you don’t run around posting complete untruths sprinkled in across a handful of half-truths.

Roxiebelle:

The role of intelligence agencies in politics should be ZiP, ZERO, NADA!!! They are not elected officials/politicians and should operate as apolitical organizations.

This is what was broken & corrupted in the top ranks (not the rank & file) of agencies like the FBI, DOJ and CIA under the previous Administration and that is what taints the Mueller investigation.

Incorrect. The role of the Law Enforcement Institutions of this nation is to protect us from all threats to our national security, both foreign and domestic. Just because you win an election, or you are in close proximity to someone who wins an election, it doesn’t place you above the law and above scrutiny. What kind of third world dictatorship are you advocating for here?

Information from 2013 describes the length and breadth of surveillance even with a FISA warrant:John C Inglis, the deputy director of the surveillance agency, told a member of the House judiciary committee that NSA analysts can perform “a second or third hop query” through its collections of telephone data and internet records in order to find connections to terrorist organizations.

"Hops" refers to a technical term indicating connections between people. A three-hop query means that the NSA can look at data not only from a suspected terrorist, but from everyone that suspect communicated with, and then from everyone those people communicated with, and then from everyone all of those people communicated with.the Guardian – 17 Jul 13

NSA officials testify to angry House panel that agency can perform 'three-hop queries' through Americans' data and records

Snowden confirmed that the surveillance was not limited to collection of contact information:The technology filter designed to protect U.S. communications is “constantly out of date, is set at what is euphemistically referred to as the ‘widest allowable aperture,’ and can be stripped out at any time,” Snowden wrote in the chat. “Even with the filter, US comms get ingested, and even more so as soon as they leave the border.”PCWorld

Analysts at the U.S. National Security Agency can gain access to the content of U.S. targets' phone calls and email messages without court orders, NSA leaker Edward Snowden said, contradicting denials from U.S. government sources.

As Democratic Senator Frank Church warned back in the 1970s:

"‘That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.’ “He added that if a dictator ever took over, the NSA ‘could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.’”the Guardian – 25 Jun 13

Glenn Greenwald: Almost 40 years ago, the Idaho Senator warned of the dangers of allowing the NSA to turn inward

The capability of the intelligence agencies to collect and process communications is millions of times greater today than it was back when Church issued this warning, and there is growing evidence that is being abused for political purposes. Is that a good thing?

This isn’t a spy movie. Reality is a lot less bland than the imaginings of some who envision this deep conspiracy. There was no surveillance of the Trump Campaign. If there had been, the defenders of Trump who have actually seen the data provided to them by the DOJ would be screaming from the rooftops. But curiously, even supporters of the President who have seen the information completely unredacted drop the issue after doing so. See Trey Gowdy as a prime example.